Scraper



United States Patent O SCRAPER Reuben M. Long, Kansas City, Mo.

Application July 15, 1957, Serial No. 671,891

2 Claims. (Cl. 30-170) special and novel means for maintaining the blade thereof at the proper angle to the surface being scraped to perform the scraping operation most eiiiciently. These means include a special guide roller carried by the scraper body and operable to roll on the surface being scraped as the blade operates, whereby to maintain the blade at an acute angle to said surface, the use of a flexibly yieldable blade which is yieldable responsive to manual pressure on the scraper body to follow and conform to the small variations of said surface from a true plane, and a guide carried by said body and adapted to engage said surface when said blade has been iiexed to a predetermined degree, whereby both to maintain a positive working angle of the blade to said surface, and to prevent overloading and breakage of the blade.

Other objects are simplicity and economy of construction, efficiency and dependability of operation, and adaptability of the principles involved to a wide variety of scraping apparatuses and operations.

With these objects in view, as Well as other objects which will appear in the course of the specification, refer-- ence will be had to the drawing, wherein:

Fig. l is a top plan view of a scraper embodying the present invention,

Fig. 2 is a sectional View taken on line II--II of Fig. l, with parts left in elevation,

Figs. 3 and 4 are sectional views taken respectively on lines III- III and IV-IV of Fig. 2, with parts left in elevation,

Fig. 5 is an enlarged fragmentary side elevational view of the scraper, showing the position of the blade and guide rib when said blade is exed by manual pressure, and

Fig. 6 is a still more greatly enlarged fragmentary view similar to Fig. 5, with the relative position of the blade and guides represented diagrammatically thereon.

Like reference numerals apply to similar parts throughout the several views, and the numeral 2 applies to a body member formed of metal or other suitable material and comprising a bottom wall 4 which is substantially rectangular and a pair of upstanding parallel side walls 6 formed integrally with said bottom wall. Said side walls extend rearwardly from the rearward edge of wall 4. An axle 8 parallel to the plane of wall 4 is journalled in holes 10 (see Fig. 3) provided in the rearwardly extended portions of side walls 6, and a firm rubber roller 12 is carried on said axle between said side walls, the diameter of said roller being of sufcient magnitude that the lower portion thereof extends below the lower surface of wall 4. The extreme rearward ends of side walls 6 are curved inwardly as indicated at 14 to protect the roller and hold the operators hand out of contact therewith.

At the forward end of the body member a blade mounting block 16 is welded or otherwise securely fixed to bottom Wall 4, extending between and also being xed to side wall 6. The forward face of said block is inclined downwardly and forwardly, and a blade 18 is securely clamped thereto by means of a clamp plate 20. Said clamp plate is releasably secured by 1a stud bolt 22 having its lower end secured xedly in block 16 and extending upwardly through a hole 24 formed therefor in the plate, and a wing nut 26 threaded on said bolt above said plate. Shifting of said clamp plate relative to block 16 is prevented by a pair of positioning pins 28 iixed in said plate and engaging in a pair of sockets 30 formed in block 16. The blade 18 may be an ordinary safety razor blade. If it is of the single-edge type having a stiifener 32 aixed along the edge thereof opposite its cutting edge, said stiifener may be accommodated in a pair of grooves 34 and 36 formed respectively in block 16 and clamp plate 20. The blade is sufficiently thin to possess substantial llexibility, and to be readily deectable by manual pressure transverse to'its plane. The blade projects suf-` ciently far forwardly from the body member that the unsupported portion thereof may be lexed in this manner. Due to the inclination of block 16, the cutting edge 38 of the blade is disposed beneath the lower surface of bottom wall 4 of the body member. A guide rib 40 is formed integrally with the body member, being disposed along the forward edge of wall 4 on the lower surface thereof. However, as shown in Fig. 2, said guide rib is normally disposed above the plane determined by roller 12 and blade edge 38.

The operation of the scraper is believed reasonably apparent. In use, the scraper is held against a pane of glass 42 (Fig. 5), or other surface to be scraped, so that roller 12 and blade edge 38 contact said surface, and moved forwardly across said surface, whereby said blade will remove paint, pasted paper, or other material from said surface. The blade is of course disposed acutely to the surface being scraped, at an angle pre-determined to be best suited for efficient scraping. This angle will be substantially maintained without the attention of the operator so long as roller 12 is kept against the surface being scraped. The rotatability of roller 12 virtually eliminates friction in the movement thereof over the surface of member 42, and the formation of the roller from rubber or similar material prevents it from scratching or marring said surface despite the possible presence of rough or abrasive particles on said surface.

When the surface being scraped is slightly uneven or non-planar, as is commonly the case particularly with panes of glass, the operator exerts manual pressure on body 2 toward the surface being scraped. This flexes blade 18 and causes the cutting edge to follow the uneven surface. However, if the pressure exerted were too great, the cutting edge would not maintain a positive angle to the surface being scraped. Referring to the greatly enlarged view of Fig. 6, it will be apparent that were it not for rib 40, the blade might be ilexed to such an extent that the bevelled surface 44 of the blade immediately :adjacent the cutting edge 38 might be brought into planar contact with the surface being scraped, and that still greater flexing of the blade would cause the heel 46 of the cutting edge actually to elevate the cutting edge 38 oi of the surface being scraped, with consequent loss of efficiency, since the cutting edge would tend to climb upwardly through the material being scraped from the surface. Rib 40 prevents this occurrence by limiting the ilexing of the blade so that blade surface 44 is always maintained at a positive angle to the surface being scraped. Considering Fig. 6 in detail, the line AO represents the plane determined by the edge 38 of the blade in its unexed or normal position and roller 12,

the line BO represents the plane determined by blade edge 38 in its normal position and rib 40, and the line CO represents the plane of the surface 44 of the blade irnmediately adjacent the cutting edge. To preserve the positive angularity of blade surface 44 tothe surface being scraped, as described above, it will `be apparent that angle AOB must be less than the angle AOC.

For most purposes, roller 12 and r-ib 40 may be described simply as a pair of elongated straight .guides disposed parallel to the blade edge. -Either or both could be rollers, or either or both could be ribs.

While I have shown and described a specific embodi ment of my invention, it Will be apparent that many minor changes of structure and operation could be made without departing from the spirit of the invention as defined by the scope of the appended claims.

What I claim as new and desire to protect by Letters Patent is:

l. A scraper comprising a rigid body member, a planar exible blade having a straight cutting edge mounted in said body member and engaged by said body member onlyy in substantially spaced apart relation from said cutting edge whereby said blade may be exed by manual pres sure on said body member, a iirst elongated straight guide member rigidly supported by said body member in 4 parallel, spaced apart relation from the cutting edge of said blade, the plane of said blade being inclined at `an. acute angle to a reference plane determined by said rst guide and said cutting edge, and a second straight guide member carried by said body member intermediate and par allel to said iirst guide member and the cutting edge of said blade, said second guide member being disposed upwardly from said reference plane when said blade is unexed, whereby to limit the ilexing of said blade.

2. A scraper as recited in claim l wherein said blade has a bevelled cutting edge, and wherein the angle between said reference plane and a plane determined by the cutting edge of said blade and said second guide member is less than the angle between said reference plane and the adjacent surface of the bevelled cutting edge of said blade, when said blade is unexed.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS.

France Dec.y l, 1949 

